The 1928 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1928. Republican Governor Robert P. Robinson declined to seek a second term so C. Douglass Buck, the Chief Engineer of the State Highway Department, was seen as the likely frontrunner heading into the Republican convention.[1] At the convention, Buck's primary opponent was State Senator I. Dolphus Short, whom he defeated by a wide margin, receiving 104 votes to Short's 54.[2]
On the Democratic side, former State Senator Charles Wharton, a well-known football player on the Penn Quakers team at the University of Pennsylvania, emerged as the frontrunner.[3] Wharton was seen as a strong candidate by the Democratic establishment and won the nomination unopposed.[4]
However, despite Wharton's reputation and his strength as a candidate, he proved little obstacle to Buck. Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover won the state in a record-breaking landslide and helped Buck across the finish line. Though Buck underperformed Hoover, he still won handily, winning 61% of the vote to Wharton's 39%.
Dubin, Michael J. (2013). United States Gubernatorial Elections, 1912-1931: The Official Results by State and County. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-7033-4.
